Our pastor delivered a truly awesome sermon this morning about God's love through choice. I have thought a lot about this truth these past few years. True love only comes from choice. I completely get this from the standpoint of God and how he loves us and how we love Him. I know He is jealous for my heart and I love knowing that he is.
Chris is jealous for my heart too. Secretly I love knowing that he is. I once heard a woman say that her husband was so jealous and it just drove her nuts. I thought really? I know my husband is jealous too, he shows it whenever any man gets within a 5 mile radious of me, here it comes with the questions and his chest get all puffed up and he gets a stern look and I think praise the Lord. It doesn't happen often and I in no way shape or form put myself in situations to make my husband jealous but when a situation does come up I know under no uncertain terms that I belong to Chris Beck!! That doesn't make me nuts at all because I do belong to him and I love that he wants me to belong to him. So I think that is how God must feel when I read in the Bible that He is jealous for my heart...He wants to protect me and wants me to belong to Him.
Our marriage has gone to heights I would have never thought possible out of our love for wanting to choose to help each other. It is so much sweeter to come home to a cleaned up kitchen or clean laundry that has been taken care of when my husband chose only to want to please me without me having to ask for the help. In turn I see the look of sheer appreciation on his face when a customer called in and I chose to go to the site to give the customer estimate without him having to touch until the actual work is scheduled. Words are much more kind when you are choosing to build up each other rather than concentrate on whose fault and just pitch in to make it all work out. I see this choosing Love and I unmistakably know that that is the kind of love God wants from us.
As I look at our children, especially our now 15 year old daughter, I think is this so for them. Bri is wanting to make so many of her own choices and as her mother wanting to protect her it is so hard. I want her to make good choices. But the only way to really know whether she will or not is to actually let her make them on her own. I think in just 3 1/2 short...SHORT years I will be standing at a place in life where hope will exceed the mourn of a grown child spreading her wings and I think I want the choices to be hers. I can see how it must be so hard for God to know we are going to fall and just let us so we can learn how to change and do what is right while standing right beside us every step of the way. As a parent of a teen who is getting ready to start driving soon and looking at colleges and talking about what her life might hold I think teach me Lord. Teach me to parent the way you do. Help me to be ready to watch her fall and let her figure out how to get up all the while standing right beside her every step of the way. Let me be the one who is her loudest cheer leader when she does choose right and the quiet one in the corner with arms open wide when her choice was wrong. I faithfully keep her in your hands Lord looking over her at all times. I choose to pray your guidance in her Lord, I choose to trust in you on her behalf and I know you are Lord.
